Robertson: God "will remove judges from the Supreme Court quickly"

On the January 3 edition of Christian Broadcasting Network's The 700 Club, Reverend Pat Robertson, host and Christian Coalition of America founder, made predictions for the New Year based on what he said God told him during a recent prayer retreat. Robertson said that God told him: "I will remove judges from the Supreme Court quickly, and their successors will refuse to sanction the attacks on religious faith." Robertson also said that he "heard it from the Lord" that President Bush will have Social Security and tax reform passed and that Muslims will turn to Jesus Christ.

Robertson currently features on his official website, under the heading "Operation Supreme Court Freedom," a letter released following the June 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Lawrence v. Texas that decriminalized homosexual sodomy. In the letter, Robertson asked his supporters to pray for liberal U.S. Supreme Court Justices to retire: "Would you join with me and many others in crying out to our Lord to change the Court? ... One justice is 83 years old, another has cancer, and another has a heart condition. Would it not be possible for God to put it in the minds of these three judges that the time has come to retire? With their retirement and the appointment of conservative judges, a massive change in federal jurisprudence can take place."

When asked to clarify his remarks, according to a July 17 Associated Press report, Robertson said that "he was not talking about any particular Supreme Court justices when he asked his television audience to pray that three liberal justices retire." Robertson stated: "I don't care which three, I mean as long as the three conservatives stay on. ... There's six liberals, so it's up to the Lord." The AP also noted: "Justice John Paul Stevens was born in 1920 [making him 83 at the time of Robertson's remarks] and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had colon cancer surgery in 1999."

On the 700 Club broadcast, Robertson touted his 2004 New Year's prediction that President George W. Bush would win re-election by "a blowout" as an example of a past prediction that turned out to be correct. On January 2, 2004, Robertson stated: "I think George Bush is going to win in a walk. I really believe I'm hearing from the Lord it's going to be like a blowout election in 2004. It's shaping up that way." As Media Matters for America has noted, Bush's margin of victory was the smallest for a reelected incumbent president since Woodrow Wilson in 1916.

Other Robertson predictions have fared less well. According to a February 15, 1988, Washington Post article, Robertson said, "I heard the Lord saying 'I have something else for you to do. I want you to run for president of the United States.'" The same article noted that during one campaign stop during the 1988 presidential race, Robertson stated: "This is where God wanted me to be. ... Here I am in New Hampshire, before a major primary." He then said, "I assure you that I am going to be the next president of the United States," according to a February 15 Washington Post article. After trailing George H.W. Bush and Senator Bob Dole in the Republican primaries, Robertson's 1988 presidential campaign ended before the Republican convention. A February 2004 article in Church & State magazine (published by Americans United for Separation of Church and State) noted several Robertson predictions that turned out to be false, including that Russia would invade Israel in 1982, and that there would be a worldwide economic collapse in 1985. The article went on to mention that "In his 1991 book, The New World Order, Robertson predicted that U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller would be elected president in 1996."

Robertson's predictions for 2005:

The economy: "Again, 2005 is going to be a year of extraordinary prosperity for this nation and for CBN [Christian Broadcasting Network]. And I think the American stock market is going to surge upward, if I heard from the Lord. Again, ladies and gentlemen, don't go and buy stock on my recommendation, but that's what I feel in my heart. The Lord was saying it's going to be a super good year."

George W. Bush: "Well, the Lord has some very encouraging news for George Bush ... What I heard is that Bush is now positioned to have victory after victory and that his second term is going to be one of triumph, which is pretty strong stuff. ... He'll have Social Security reform passed. He'll have tax reform passed. He'll have conservative judges on the courts. And that basically he is positioned for a series of dramatic victories which I hope will hearten him and his advisers. They don't have to be timid in this matter because the wind is blowing at his back, and he can move forward boldly and get results."

Muslims and others turning to Jesus Christ: "In America, again if I'm hearing God right, we will see a tremendous incident of miracles in the year 2005. ... God's spirit is going to be moving in dramatic power around the world. And his spirit is going to be touching the hearts of many in the Muslim world and they will be turning to the gospel, to Jesus Christ. I think many of them already are, but this is going to be an acceleration that will really amaze the world. ... 'Revival will break out throughout the Muslim world, my [God's] truth will penetrate their hearts. The hold of that falsehood that has gripped them will be broken.'"

Terrorism and global security: "2005 will be another good year for the world. The terrorist threat will diminish. Nations will walk in peace, but it will be an illusion. The peril to Israel is greater now than it has ever been for she will be seduced into a false peace that will leave her vulnerable."

The Supreme Court: "The vendetta against religion in America is about to end. ... 'I [God] will remove judges from the Supreme Court quickly and their successors will refuse to sanction the attacks on religious faith.'"

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